Researchers at the New York Stem Cell Foundation have developed a technique to produce bioengineered bone grafts for large bone defects, which are currently difficult to treat using conventional techniques. To deal with bone defects, clinicians currently use either synthetic materials or bone grafts from the patient or a donor. However, these grafts can trigger […]
Tag: Genetics
New Device Captures Circulating Tumor Cells Directly Within Blood Vessels
Circulating tumor cells (CTCs) are present in the blood of people suffering from most cancers, but because of their rarity their presence is very difficult to spot. A number of technologies have been developed in the past to capture and count CTCs (see flashbacks below), but they tend to still have a number of limitations. […]
Method Tracks How Cancer Drugs Spread to Tumor Cells
When it comes to anti-cancer drugs, it’s not only their effectiveness at killing the intended target that we want to know, but also their ability to reach and penetrate the cancer cells. Knowing whether the drug actually enters cancer cells can be as important as whether it’s effective once inside. Now researchers at Francis Crick Institute […]
New Nano Microscope Gives Detailed New Look at Alzheimer’s Brains
Alzheimer’s disease seems to develop over many years, if not decades, before symptoms begin to show up. In order to better understand its development, researchers have been looking for new ways to track the formation of amyloid plaques within the brain, which are the best known biomarkers of Alzheimer’s. Researchers at Purdue University recently developed […]
Device Detects Mosquitoes Carrying Pathogenic Viruses
Mosquitoes are usually only an unpleasant nuisance, but when they’re carrying diseases we only find out once people start showing up sick at hospitals and clinics. A spinoff from Purdue University is hoping to give public health professionals, and mosquito eradication programs, an early warning system to know where to direct their resources. The company, […]
Scientists Use Organ on Chip to Grow New Kidney Cells
Scientists at Harvard’s Wyss Institute have come up with a way of growing podocytes, kidney cells that filter out blood, from induced pluripotent stem cells inside a special chamber that replicates the glomerulus of a kidney. These cells, provided an environment similar to their natural one, have shown remarkable identity to their all-real cousins in their transcriptomic […]
Plasmonic Patch Improves Sensitivity of Fluorescent Diagnostic Testing
A great deal of life science research relies on using fluorescent markers to track molecular biological activity. It’s extremely effective as long as the light signal coming back from a sample is strong enough, but if the light is dim, as with highly sensitive, low concentration tests, fluorescent markers are often insufficient. Now researchers from Washington […]
Liquid Biopsy Separates Tumor Cells from Blood Faster Than Ever Before
Biopsies are a sure way to find out if a patient really has a neoplastic tissue in the body. While highly accurate, biopsies are only useful if one has a lesion to sample. Many tumors are well hidden and difficult to reach, making traditional biopsies effectively impossible. But, tumors tend to shed cells that end […]
New Method for Monitoring Biomarkers at Ultra Low Concentrations
Many chemical biomarkers within our bodies, such as proteins and DNA fragments, are found in extremely low concentrations, making it difficult to monitor their behavior. At the Eindhoven University of Technology, researchers have now developed an exciting new method for continuous, live monitoring of individual molecules within blood. The researchers were able to use it […]
UCLA Researchers Develop Synthetic T Cells That Mimic Function of Human Version
Cancer research has made leaps and bounds in the past few decades, but the scourge of fast-dividing cancer cells still plagues people from all walks of life. Those with cancer, their families, and survivors hang onto the hope that one day a medical breakthrough will finally rid the world of the debilitating illness. That hope […]
Strained Guts: Engineering Human Intestinal Organoids for Transplantation
The increasing demand for organ transplantation has led many researchers to look for innovative ways to replace the need for human donors. Research in organoids, which are stem cell derived miniature mimics of organs typically grown in a dish, has significantly improved our understanding of organ development and structural organization. However, their size and simplicity […]
Nanolasers to Shine Light on Things Inside Body
At the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, scientists have created microscopic lasers that may end up being used for imaging inside the body, control of biological activity via optogenetics, and performing novel biological studies on living specimens. The lasers, which are about 5 microns in diameter, smaller than red blood cells, turn infrared light into coherent […]
New Microscopy Technique Can Image Living Tissues in Real Time
Researchers at the University of Illinois have developed a new microscopy technique that can image living tissue in real time, without the need for chemical stains or dyes. The technique can achieve significant detail, such as allowing researchers to see the movement of vesicles, which are tiny transport packages, between cells. This approach could be […]
Grown Cartilage Used to Fix Diseased Joints Responsible for TMJ Dysfunction
Temporomandibular joint dysfunction (TMJ) is a condition which makes it difficult to chew on food and talk, while being quite painful and unpleasant. It’s caused by the breakdown of the cartilage disc that brings together two bones of the jaw. Researchers from University of California, Irvine, University of California, Davis, and The University of Texas School of […]
Nano Scale Matrix Promotes Neural Stem Cell Growth Without Risk of Cancer
Growing neural stem cells is a complicated process that has the potential to result in the unintended production of cancer cells. In large part this is due to the addition of growth factors to the culture mix, which can result in indiscriminate cellular multiplication. Now researchers from the Hong Kong Baptist University have developed a […]
Light Beams Guide Growth of Cells and Entire Tissues
European Molecular Biology Laboratory (EMBL), a European intergovernmental research organization, has announced that its scientists have managed to harness the power of optogenetics to guide how cells and tissues grow. They were able to generate different tissue shapes, a capability that may develop into growing tissues for therapeutic applications. Optogenetics is a technology that allows […]
Hairy Frosted Glass Slides Capture Circulating Tumor Cells for Screening and Early Diagnosis
Biopsies are typically the way prostate cancer is identified, but prostate cancers also release circulating tumor cells (CTCs) that are telltale signs of the presence of the disease. Because they’re so rare and difficult to separate from whole blood, CTCs remain rarely used for establishing diagnoses. Researchers from the Chinese Academy of Scientists have now […]
Particles Made of Silk Protect Immune System Boosting Drugs to Fight Cancer
Peptides, or strings of amino acids, are being investigated as a way to help activate the immune system to fight cancer and other diseases. Delivering them into the interior of immune system’s cells is difficult because they’re easily broken apart by the body. Now a team of researchers from Switzerland and Germany have developed a […]
System for 3D Printing Bioengineered Muscles and Tendons
A team of Swiss researchers has developed a microplate system for printing engineered muscle and tendon tissue. The investigators were able to create a microwell plate that allows tissue to adhere to it and the system constantly monitors progress, screens the growth and selects the desired results. The system may end up being used for […]
Device Delivers Drugs Direct to Heart to Help Recover from Heart Attacks
A team of researchers from the U.S. and Ireland have developed a device that can be used to deliver drugs directly to a damaged region of the heart. The capability has the potential to provide a direct therapeutic option to guide how the heart recovers following a heart attack, leading to improved cardiac function. As […]